Business Planning for Natural World Heritage Sites – A Toolkit
Business Planning for Natural World Heritage Sites
Shell l World Heritage Sites
Business Planning for Natura of the source, and copies are sent to UNESCO and to the http://whc.unesco.org/en/businessplanningtoolkit/ http://www.shellfoundation.org y, UNESCO World Heritage Centre Website: blication can be found at: blication 7 / S http://whc.unesco.org W / 8 0 0 2 - T L C UNESCO Shell Centre Centre Shell Foundation. World Heritage Centre UNESCO place de Fontenoy 7 75352 Paris 07 SP France Tel : +33 (0) 1-45-68-15-71 Website : Shell Foundation United Kingdom London SE1 7NA Tel: +44 (0) 207 934 2727 Production supervision: Marc Patr Reproduction is authorized , provided that appropriate mention is made An on-line version of this pu version of this An on-line © UNESCO / June 2008
Business Planning for Natural World Heritage Sites A Toolkit
Business Planning for Natural World Heritage Sites – A Toolkit FOREWORD
World Heritage site managers are called upon to deal with a wide range of challenges in carrying out of their duties. Wildlife incursions into agricultural areas, forest fires, introduced species, tourism pressures, poaching and community relations are just some of the issues they are required to manage on a regular basis. Most natural site managers are trained biologists with several years of field experience – giving them a solid grounding from which they can respond to these challenges.
However, effectively managing a protected area requires additional skill sets that are not always part of traditional staff training. Management challenges go beyond those related to ecosystem health and also include those related to running the protected area management organization. After all, if the organization is dysfunctional, the effectiveness of its staff, no matter how good, will be compromised and their ability to deliver on management objectives will be affected.
It is this gap in available capacity building support for World Heritage site managers that we hope to address with this toolkit. Commonly referred to as ‘business planning’, this term, originating from the private sector, refers to those processes common to assuring the effective operations of any organization, be it a large corporation, a small shop, or a protected area.
In this context, the World Heritage Centre is pleased to have been involved in developing this Business Planning toolkit for World Heritage site managers. Developed in the field with the participation of World Heritage site managers and Shell International staff with knowledge in the area of business planning, the toolkit provides a very practical and ground-truthed tool designed to help managers acquire or strengthen
Business Planning for Natural World Heritage Sites 2 er use of ld Heritage Kishore Rao or natural and Deputy Director ntinual efforts to ties, and more. l World Heritage Sites 3 UNESCO World Heritage Centre ed either directly by the Wor otected areas alike, in their co ganization position itself to make bett Business Planning for Natura velop the foundations for sustainable financing of activi nuals, courses and workbooks produc nagers and managers of other pr these tools should help the management or the tools should help these uding by IUCN, which is responsible for the World Heritage global training strategy f onses to potential risks, de improve management and better conserve their sites. mixed sites. We trust it will be used by World Heritage site ma Centre, or with the Centre’s support, incl essential business planning skills. Applying available resources, identify prepare resp This toolkit is a valuable addition to the growing number of ma
Business Planning for Natural World Heritage Sites – A Toolkit PREFACE
The effective management of any organization requires a blend of skills, access to finance and linkages to a range of value-adding partners. Historically, the focus was upon developing the conservation skills and income-generating abilities of managers of protected areas. Today, there is increasing recognition of the need to develop wider business planning competencies as a means to enhancing the effective management of these critical sites and biodiversity ‘assets’.
There is already a vast amount of advice on business planning. But most of this is written for enterprises aimed primarily at making money. Yet the fundamentals and practice of good ‘business planning’ – marketing to clients, setting budgets and managing finances, assessing and managing risk, staff training and development – are of equal relevance to organizations whose prime purpose is not necessarily to make money.
The need to develop business planning advice of relevance to managers of World Heritage sites and protected areas was recognized as an important addition to the ‘Enhancing our Heritage’ project – supported jointly by UNESCO and the UN Foundation - to develop generic tools, training materials and guidance for World Heritage managers.
The best place of course to source business advice is from people in business. As an independent charity with a focus on business-based approaches to tackling development challenges - as well as close links to a ‘big’ business, the Shell Foundation was ideally placed to pilot such a skills-sharing initiative. Through building on the ‘Enhancing our Heritage’ project, experienced business managers from both the Shell Foundation and Shell provided pro bono guidance to the managers of four natural World Heritage sites.
Business Planning for Natural World Heritage Sites 4 As with any genuine partnership, there was mutual sharing of experience. In addition to the specific business planning support provided to the managers of the natural World Heritage sites, business managers from Shell Foundation and Shell – with little previous knowledge or experience of conservation – gained hugely valuable insights about the management of areas of rich biological diversity.
The outcome of this pilot skills-sharing project is the production of this generic business planning toolkit. Every effort has been taken to ensure that it is simple, easily applicable, and can be used by people with no previous business experience or knowledge. I am sure it will be improved and updated through further use by practitioners.
Although the toolkit is one tangible outcome of this pilot project, for me the greatest benefit has been to demonstrate that through working together, conservation organizations and businesses have much to gain from sharing skills, tools and practice. I therefore hope this initiative serves as a springboard for greater skills-sharing partnerships between the worlds of conservation and business.
Dr Chris West Deputy Director Shell Foundation www.shellfoundation.org
Business Planning for Natural World Heritage Sites 5
ion was the Shell nt guidance wide range range wide vice-chair for o this process. o this process. ning experts in ples used by Shell rticular: l World Heritage Sites 6 ticipate and contribute t ch. Chris West of the Shell Foundat ate sector terminology and exam veral Shell International Ltd business plan Business Planning for Natura er, Shell Internationaler, Ltd.) and received consta slate a priv managers, resulting in a toolkit better reflecting their experience. hout the process. With the financial and technical support of s developed over a period of three years with the support of a l field tested toolkit would not have been possible. In pa eived by Marc Hockings (IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas Ronny Renaud and the SIF Board of Directors provided by Sue Stolton of Equilibrium Resear able to facilitate the participation of se
(Vallée de Mai, and Aldabra Atoll) (Bwindi Impenetrable National Park) esentatives of four World Heritage site management agencies agreed to par wa managers Site Heritage World for Toolkit Planning Business The from them, with additional valuable advice Science, Knowledge and Management) and Sachin Kapila (Group Biodiversity Advis of individuals and institutions. The initiative was first conc Foundation, the World Heritage Centre was personally engaged, providing valuable insights and advice throug Finally, and critically, repr field level development and application of the toolkit. Charlie Falzon helped tran International into a language more commonly used by protected area Uganda Wildlife Authority Edgar Buhanga, Richard Kapere, John Makombo, Moses Mapesa Without their active involvement, the development of this practica FoundationSeychelles Island LyndsayChongFleischer-Dogley, Seng, Frauke ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Tubbataha Reef Marine Park (Philippines) Angelique Songco
Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park James Albert Mendoza
Shell International Judith Pollock, Sharna Jarvis, Karin Agabin, Paul van der Harten, Halima Besisira and Ioannis Topsakalidis
UNESCO World Heritage Centre Yvette Kaboza, Leila Maziz, Marc Patry, Ron Van Oers
Business Planning for Natural World Heritage Sites 7
Business Planning for Natural World Heritage Sites INTRODUCTION
Sources of World Heritage site finance are frequently diverse, often combining government grants with international aid, trust funds and direct income from resource users. But whatever the source, without good business planning skills it is unlikely that access to financial resources or use of available resources will be totally effective. A cursory evaluation of a typical site manager’s training background will often reveal a gap in terms of overall business planning capacity; several of the World Heritage sites taking part in the ‘Enhancing our Heritage (EoH)* project identified business and financial planning as a weakness in their initial assessment.
Most of the existing advice on business planning is written for enterprises aimed solely at making money; in contrast the primary objective of World Heritage sites is to achieve effective in-situ conservation and income generation is instead a means to that end. In these conditions, the concept of business planning becomes less about generating income and more about overall effective management of financial resources. Rather than showing increased profits and growth margins, the site manager’s business is to achieve maximum effectiveness in attaining the site’s overall objectives and conserving the major values. World Heritage sites are nonetheless ‘big business’ in terms of annual turnover and employees and assets/infrastructure, most national agencies having turnovers of millions of dollars a year. Given that much of this is in the form of state funding, there is a strong political imperative to demonstrate that funds are being used as efficiently as possible.
The need to develop World Heritage/protected area focused business planning advice was thus seen as an important addition to the overall aim of the EoH project in terms of improving management effectiveness of World Heritage sites. The opportunity to link protected area and World Heritage expertise with big business presented itself through the memorandum of agreement between Shell and UNESCO and the development of the ‘Shell Foundation – UNESCO/WHC Business Planning Skills’ pilot project.
The objective of the project was to develop a generic business planning toolkit to assist World Heritage site managers to build capacity in developing 3-year business plans. Shell Foundation, with support from Shell International business consultants, developed a draft Business Planning which aims to provide:
Business Planning for Natural World Heritage Sites 8 • Guidance on completing the main elements of a business plan • Development of capacity to realize the plan (finance and people) • Implementation of activities needed to achieve the planned goals.
Three pilot training projects were completed with the Seychelles Island Foundation (SIF), Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) and Tubbataha Reef Marine Park (Philippines), the aim of which was to transfer business planning skills to the management authorities of Vallée de Mai and Aldabra Atoll in the Seychelles, Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park in Uganda and to the Tubbataha Reef Marine Park managers. Each organization received support in developing a business plan through two in-country training visits and additional mentoring support during the project period. Following field testing, the Business Planning Toolkit was updated to fill identified gaps and improve the clarity of the language and was finalized by a protected area training specialist to ensure maximum applicability to World Heritage site managers.
Lastly, this toolkit contains 48 appendices. These are the products of actual site-level exercises carried out in the context of developing this toolkit and for this reason, vary significantly in style and approach. They are intended to give the users of this toolkit actual examples of how its application by World Heritage site managers on the ground.
The 48 appendices are provided in electronic format only and can found on the CD provided with this document. This toolkit, along with all appendices, can also be found online at the following address: http://whc.unesco.org/en/businessplanningtoolkit/
* The ‘Enhancing Our Heritage’ project, supported by the United Nations Foundation, aims to improve monitoring and evaluation i Assessment of Protected Area Mana World Heritage sites. The project team worked with staff in nine (importance and threats), planning, inpu assessment methods looking at management systems and pr
TheEnhancing toolkit ourprovides Heritage technical Toolkit guidance (which partnerson developing this publication) a monito builds on the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas Framework for The management effectiveness. It wasgement designed Effectiveness, which is at sites and to identify and fill any gaps ts, processes, outputs and outcomes.
Tools and accompanying material can be downloaded from Worldbased Heritagearound analysis sites in ofAfrica, the wholeAsia andmanagement Latin America cycle, to including deve ocesses as well as social and ecological impacts. in collaboration with World Heritage site ma to provide a comprehensive assessment. ring system and a set of tools
http://whc.unesco.org/en/eoh/Businessnagers Planning to complement for Natura l existingWorld Heritagemonitoring Sites 9 for carrying out a detailed assessn natural lop andcontext test
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This toolkit is aimed primarily at users with no business knowledge or experience. All business concepts are It offers: introduced at a basic level and no previous knowledge of • Ideas on content and form business planning is required. All the templates and • Specific topics that frameworks used in the toolkit are designed to be simple • Tips to help you unblock your thinking. to use and easily applicable. you canats focus that on you can adapt This logo links you to real examples that might The toolkit is structured to enable different World Heritage help you compare with your own experiences. It site managers to implement the elements they need most refers to appendices found on the CD included urgently (according to time and cost limitations). It is thus with this toolkit, or available on-line at: built in distinct parts following the structure of a standard http://whc.unesco.org/en/businessplanningtoolkit/ business plan, as reflected in the following contents pages. This logo indicates exercises and templates that you might use to help think through issues.
THIS TOOLKIT IS AVAILABLE ON-LINE, TO BE DOWNLOADED, PRINTED OR USED AS AN INTERACTIVE INSTRUMENT:
http://whc.unesco.org/en/businessplanningtoolkit/
Business Planning for Natural World Heritage Sites 10 CONTENTS
3.2 Market Definition 48 Introduction to the Business Plan 14 3.3 Analysis of Political, Economic, Social and Technological (PEST) Factors 48 What is the ‘Business’ of Natural World Heritage Site 3.4 Customer Profile 50 Management? 14 3.5 Competition 53 Why Should Business Planning Matter? 14 3.6 Strategic Options 55 What is the Purpose of the Plan? 15 How Does a Business Plan differ from Section 4: Marketing Plan 57 a Management Plan? 16 4.1 Marketing Strategy 57 Scope and Content 17 4.2 Product 61 Some Advice 18 4.3 Pricing 62 4.4 Place (Distribution) 63 Section 1: Executive Summary 20 4.5 Promotion 63
4.6 Market Forecasting 64 Section 2: Institutional Analysis 22 2.1 Profile 23 Section 5: Operational Plan 66 2.2 Vision and Mission 28 5.1 Overview 66 2.3 Present Situation 32 5.2 Procurement 66 2.4 Stakeholder Analysis 34 5.3 Contractual Agreements 69 2.5 Analysis of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities 5.4 Sustainable Financing 70 and Challenges (SWOC) 38 5.5 Health and Safety Issues 71 2.6 Objectives 43 5.6 Preventative Maintenance 72
Section 3: Market Analysis 46 3.1 Overview 46
Business Planning for Natural World Heritage Sites 11 Section 6: Human Resources 74 10.5 Tubbataha Stakeholder Analysis 6.1 Overview 74 10.6 Seychelles Islands Foundation SWOC 6.2 Organizational Structure 75 10.7 Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) SWOT Strategy 6.3 Staff Profile 76 Table 6.4 Gap/Organizational Needs Analysis 76 10.8 Seychelles Islands Foundation Objectives 6.5 Training 77 10.9 Seychelles Islands Foundation Profile 10.10 Seychelles Islands Foundation Market Analysis Section 7: Risk Analysis 79 10.11 PEST template and Seychelles Islands Foundation PEST analysis 7.1 Identifying and Evaluating Risks 79 10.12 Tubbataha PEST Analysis 7.2. Risk Management and Contingency Planning 80 10.13 Seychelles Islands Foundation Customer Profile 10.14 Tubbataha Competitor Analysis Section 8: Financial Plan 83 10.15 Tubbataha Strategic Options 8.1 Overview 83 10.16 Seychelles Islands Foundation market segments 8.2 Financial History 84 10.17 Tubbataha Market Positioning 8.3 Budget 84 10.18 Seychelles Islands Foundation Positioning 8.4 Financial Statements 85 10.19 Seychelles Islands Foundation Market Forecast 8.5 Future Financial Projections 86 Worksheet 8.6 Conclusions 88 10.20 Marketing Budget 10.21 Seychelles Islands Foundation Marketing Plan Section 9: Action Plan 89 10.22 Purchasing Policies 10.23 Procurement Standards Section 10: Appendices 90 10.24 Procurement Strategy 10.25 Procurement Standing Orders (available electronically only) 10.26 Standard Purchasing Procedure 10.1 Glossary of Acronyms and Terms 10.27 HSE Safety Policy for Small Businesses 10.2 Financing Protected Areas (IUCN) 10.28 Tir Coed HS Policy 10.3 Seychelles Islands Foundation Executive Summary 10.29 Seychelles Islands Foundation Organogram 10.4 Executive Summary Worksheet
Business Planning for Natural World Heritage Sites 12 10.30 Seychelles Islands Foundation Mechanics Gap Analysis 10.31 UWA Ranger Role Description 10.32 UWA Ranger Gap Analysis 10.33 Tubbataha Risk Response 10.34 Contingency Planning Table Template 1 10.35 Contingency Planning Template 2 10.36 Seychelles Islands Foundation Risk Evaluation 10.37 UWA Financial Statistics 10.38 Protected Area Monthly Budget Statement 10.39 Annual Proportion (amount) of Budget Allocations by Function 10.40 Annual Statement of Accounts for a UK Protected Area 10.41 Balance Sheet Template 10.42 Cash Flow Statement Template 10.43 Profit and Loss Statement Template 10.44 Projected Budget by Amount 10.45 Projected Budget by Proportion 10.46 UWA Draft Budget Projection 10.47 Activity List 10.48 Action Plan Framework
Business Planning for Natural World Heritage Sites 13 Introduction to the Business Plan
What is the ‘business’ of natural World Why should business planning matter? Heritage Site management? The business world has developed many skills at analysing its It is arguable that as with many businesses, the values of a markets, its products and services. It is also increasingly protected area are its products and its services. These are adept at talking the language of conservation. On the other what the managers ‘sell’, for instance, the uniqueness and hand, conservationists are expert in their field but generally rarity of a habitat or a species, their breathtaking beauty, the poor at talking the language of the business sector. In an lessons that they have to teach us about our evolution, or increasingly competitive world, it is important that the their critical importance as water catchments, carbon sinks economic, social and environmental sectors learn to talk a and sources of nourishment to humanity – both spiritual and common language. physical. In any case, what is essential is adopting a business planning A critical difference between World Heritage site management approach to conservation –a systematic way of identifying and mainstream business is that whatever enterprises are what are the assets of your site and what they are worth – in undertaken, they must not undermine the values for which other words, their values. This is important, because many theHeritage site has Toolkit been notified, and should in fact seek to enhance managers, communities and even governments take these them. things for granted, and can find it difficult to state exactly why they are so important. So any business plan must recognize these values, and also other important values associated with the site, even where The most important assets of an organization are its staff not specified in the nomination. Tool 1 in the Enhancing our and resources. It is critical that these are used in the best is especially useful in identifying these values. ways possible, and that they are sustained and enhanced. of the site and to conserve th Weto needits to remember that in the World Heritage context, Businesses are very good at analysing these things – they your businessoutstanding is literally universal to guarantee value the long-term integrity have to be because they operate in a competitive world.
ose components that contribute
.
Business Planning for Natural World Heritage Sites 14 A central part of the World Heritage Site Manager’s job is to Finally, it might be useful to look at the extracts taken from convince donors, governments and citizens (in the language IUCN’s guidelines ‘Financing Protected Areas (Appendix of business) to ‘buy’ its products and services in an 10.2), which provides further insights into the issues appropriate way, and then to demonstrate that their discussed in this toolkit. ‘investment’ is worth it. At the same time managers need to ensure that in ‘consuming’ our sites, nature’s capital assets What is the purpose of the plan? are not diminished, but can be sustained. You might be forgiven for thinking that too much time is being devoted to strategy at the expense of what In the effort to secure sustainable financing for protected organizations are really here to do – to conserve species, and areas, in general, a manager who can demonstrate that to help rural indigenous people. And in a few cases, you existing resources are already being effectively allocated would be right. through systematic business planning processes, may more likely succeed in convincing national authorities and/or This is why it is vital to see any plan as a flexible tool, not a external donors that an increase in their financial support will straitjacket; and the organization as the maker and be a good investment. manipulator of that tool, not its slave.
The business plan is central to this endeavour. It should not It is important to know what the plan is for. In some cases, it be seen as a radical departure from existing best practice. may be for an organization to plot its future course. In other This is simply a way of setting out systematically what good cases, it may be to help an organization get funds and to managers should be doing in any case. demonstrate how it will spend them – these may be capital funds, to inject money into building business infrastructure It is worth distinguishing between a business plan and and/or revenue funds to provide an income until the business planning as a process. Some of the activities organization is self-supporting. In many cases a business plan described in this toolkit reflect good practice in business has to be written for a specific programme or project, and has planning – for instance carrying out gap analysis or training to show how the funding for that programme or project will needs analysis. However, much of the processes described be managed. are not presented in most business plans (although their results might be).
Business Planning for Natural World Heritage Sites 15 In many cases a business plan encapsulates the spirit of the • Ensure that the organization's goals can be achieved organization and where it wants to go, while at the same time with the resources available to it mapping out a clear and realistic route of how it will get there. It provides the route from A to B and on to C, and • Identify any key risks that could prevent an ensures that progress is constantly under review and goals organization meeting its goals and put plans in place to adjusted accordingly. mitigate these
As such, a business plan has often been described as a • And achieve a smooth handover at times of staff journey, not a destination. change.
A business plan helps managers and stakeholders to Additional reasons might be to: understand how business will be managed in the most effective way, and to ensure that the organization is properly • Support applications for financial support, for example accountable for the use of any funds it receives. to the World Bank, UNDP, government departments, sponsors and charities For managers of protected areas, the primary reasons for writing a plan will be to: • Inform strategies for particular capital or revenue initiatives • Provide a clear, realistic, and practical blueprint for an organization’s future development • Review organizational structure, approaches to training and personnel management, technological resources or • Enable everyone in the organization, including its board monitoring procedures. or management committee, to agree upon and share common goals How does a business plan differ from a management plan? • Ensure the participation of key stakeholders (such as There are a number of similarities, and the same information donors, politicians, bankers, sponsors, and other should be used to develop and inform both types of plan. So groups with which an organization is likely to work) where a business plan relates to a particular protected area, it
Business Planning for Natural World Heritage Sites 16 should use information from the management plan, such as plan – you need some clarity about the ‘product’ you are vision and mission. However, the business plan might relate ‘selling’, as well as the actions you need to take, who you will to an agency’s corporate strategy rather than to a site’s work with etc. management plan, and clear vision and mission statements (and other useful information found in a management plan) It is worth pointing out that a business plan does not need to might not exist. replicate areas already covered in a management plan, but it can cross-reference them and act as a complementary While the management plan is about setting out the actions document. The diagram at the end of Appendix 10.2 needed to deliver the purposes for which a protected area has (Financing Protected Areas) will help you to think of their been designated, the business plan focuses on the financial relationship. anddo weorganizational know whether dimension we have – in enoughother words,well-trained how andto resourcemotivated the people?’ delivery ‘How of do the we management plan. It is Scope and content criticalthat thereforethey have to the recognize right equi that the business plan ensures The scope and complexity of such documents varies greatly thathave the managementavailable match plan’s the actionswork are being achieved, and from one organization to another. Having too much that moneyits goals do can we be needmoni toredto negotiate on an ongoing in order basis. to continue our information is as bad as not including enough. It can be time-
work?’ ‘Why do we need it anyway?’know that ‘How they muchare safe, should and we beconsuming and wasteful to provide surplus information. It The business plan aims to answerpment?’ such questions‘ Does the as money– ‘How we goes without saying then that a business plan is likely to be investing for future programmes? read by a wide range of audiences, and it should be capable and effective way of we need to do?’ ‘ How much of being understood by them all. However, you will need to think about who your plan is aimed at, and ensure that it using our resources?’ attracts them. It is important to know what the plan is for, ’ ‘Is there a more efficient and who its intended users are – this will help define its scope and content.
Most plans cover a 3-5 year period, and provide considerable detail for Year 1, with outline forecasts for future years. Each Obviously, some of the information you need to answer these year, forecasts are updated in the light of the realities questions will be used in the production of the management experienced. The mission and overall aim should remain the
Business Planning for Natural World Heritage Sites 17 same, but financial factors, law and politics; staff changes, As much as three to four months should be allowed, unanticipated opportunities and threats, market and other depending on the size, purposes and complexity of the external trends will all influence changes. organization.
At its most simple, an organizational and business plan Solid blocks of time need to be allocated to this process. It is contains 7 key sections: not something that can undertaken in the occasional five minutes. 1. An overview of your organization, its Mission and Aims 2. A clear statement of objectives A few tips to help you start 3. An assessment of the context and market in which an • Agree who will collect all the relevant information, and organization is operating who will coordinate the writing of the plan 4. Budgets and financial forecasts to show how objectives will be reached, and assessment of risks along the way • Decide on a logical deadline for the production of the 5. Implications for management structure and staffing final document: for example, it may need to be 6. Timescales and Activity Plan produced to support a funding application on a specific 7. Milestones and Monitoring. date. Many plans need to be finalized by a particular date in order to inform budgetary rounds This toolkit addresses these issues, as well as operational and safety matters. • Agree a schedule to enable that deadline to be achieved, and agree interim reporting dates. As a rule, technical information should be presented as an appendix rather than within the text of the plan itself. Five things to do if you get blocked Some advice There are many reasons why it may be difficult to get started, Getting down to it and there may also be stumbling blocks along the way. Here Writing a plan can take a considerable amount of time, and it are a few tips to help overcome them: can be difficult to sustain the effort required. Give the process momentum by agreeing deadlines. • Analyse the problem:
Business Planning for Natural World Heritage Sites 18 o Is it because the timescale is unrealistic and needs adjusting? • Look at some examples o Is it because you do not feel equipped to No two business plans will be the same, but looking at start/continue? plans that similar organizations have completed can o Perhaps you need to ask for outside help? give you ideas and confidence. o Perhaps you do not have enough information and need to spend more time collecting it? • Learn for free o Is it that some sections need to be developed by When you have been through this process once it will someone other than you? never be as difficult again, and it is a major asset to o Would a different working environment (a library, your range of skills. See it as an opportunity to or perhaps home) be more productive? broaden your knowledge base, and one, which develops your personal expertise. This approach can • Remember you are not working on this alone serve to motivate you even when the going gets tough. It is a team effort (or should be if it is going to be worthwhile). Ask for help from specialist colleagues and advisors. That is what they are there for.
• Start with the easier parts You do not have to write the plan in the exact order in which it will finally appear, so begin with the parts you are confident about.
Business Planning for Natural World Heritage Sites 19 Section 1: Executive Summary
The Executive Summary is a critical part of the business An Executive Summary is typically structured in way that plan – because of pressures, this may be the only section that includes: the evaluator of the plan will read. This is especially important when the plan is subject to an approval decision by the board Vision and or to a funding decision by a financial institution. Mission
It summarizes the most important points from the whole plan (and thus demonstrates the authors’ ability to pick out the important information from the details), and provides a About the What is the perfect opportunity for the author to ‘sell’ the plan to the Organization ‘Market’? stakeholders.
The role of the Executive Summary is two-fold. Strategic Analysis • It should demonstrate to the reader that you have an accurate understanding of the business • It must encourage the reader to continue reading in order to obtain a fuller picture of the organization. Financial Plan Remember… Write it last. Although it is the first thing a reader will see in your plan the Executive Summary should be written last.
Keep it short. Your purpose is to try to ‘sell’ your plan to someone that is working to tight time pressures – you need to Conclusions ‘hook’ their interest.
Business Planning for Natural World Heritage Sites 20
Here is a business plan executive summary for the Seychelles Islands Foundation, a public trust established by the government to manage a World Heritage Site. The purpose of its business plan is to identify tourist markets for its products. Note that the type of executive summary should reflect the nature and purposes of the organization presenting it.
Appendix 10.3: SEYCHELLES